


Desert Garden

by sanctum_c



Series: Aerti Week 2019 [5]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Day Dreaming, F/F, Gold Saucer (Compilation of FFVII), Prison, Survival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27140263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: Life is tough in the Desert Prison for Aeris and Tifa.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart
Series: Aerti Week 2019 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981054
Kudos: 6





	Desert Garden

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt 'holding on and letting go'

The sun woke Tifa – as it did every morning. Harsh yellow light, golden where it crested the endless sand dunes of the Corel desert. Blasting past the flimsy rags constituting curtains in the abandoned dwellings around the base of the Gold Saucer. She could not help the groan accompanying her awakening, too late to stifle her outburst with one hand. Aeris stirred beside her. Better to let her sleep, but too late.

“Morning.” Her voice was croaky – always was in the interim between waking and getting to the water.

“Morning.” Tifa planted a kiss on Aeris’s cheek before struggling up and off the worn, stained mattress, the springs of the bed-frame screeching. Tempting – as always – to simply spend a few extra moments in bed with Aeris, enjoy lying close to her, their shared warmth not off-putting. But to do so would be to try and defy their situation. Better to get as much done as they could now while the desert was cool, yesterday’s heat dissipated into the air and yet to build to a new debilitating level.

The stone floor bordered on too cold; pointless to complain. Later when night fell it would be a source of blessed relief when the sun went down. The sky was still not blue, a few other inmates awake and making the best of the temperature. Oh to have an Ice materia to help with cooling and water. They could plunge the temperatures down, draw moisture from the air to let melt.

Tifa shook her head. Torturous imagination. Why stop there? Ice materia could strike at the lift controllers. Could get them out of the desert. And if dreaming, why not go further? Wish for Shiva; summon the goddess of ice to tear down the blasted theme park and have- Aeris pressed against her back, arms looped around her shoulders.

“We should get going.”

“Yeah.” Tifa bit back the sigh, one hand stroking along Aeris’s arm. They grabbed the drinks bottles from the darkest corner. All empty now; first job refilling from the well. Between them they dismantled the barricade on the front door. Outside Aeris locked up – the padlock (and, more critically, the key nothing short of a lifesaver) holding the door closed while they were away. Few others could or tried to secure their dwelling with such care.

Most gave up once sent to the Desert Prison. Ignored by the outside world, under the feet of tourists who cared nothing for those toiling below in what remained of Corel. Tifa never gave up; exiled here by Shinra, serving a sentence over a time period she could never be certain of any more. No one had made it out during her time in captivity. Plenty of others arriving but- Supposedly there was a way out – if one was capable of chocobo racing. But without a way to practice-

Escape was a favourite day-dream of the couple; one plausible but improbable to execute. No physical barriers around the prison. A number of fissures and crevices made direct routes perilous or impossible, but no fences and no walls. The solution was simple; take both water bottles and trek out to bury a water source as far as they could. Retreat, replenish and repeat on and on until they made it to the grasslands. By Tifa’s calculations, it should take them about a week to reach the grasslands.

But water bottles were scarce and fiercely held. Even retaining the two they had was troublesome enough, to say nothing of gaining another four or more. A more realistic wish than the ice materia, but still unlikely to come to pass. A pleasant day-dream – and something to remain prepared for – but if she was truly to leave this horrible place, she would need outside interference.

“Do you mind if we check in on the garden?”

“Of course not.” Tifa squeezed Aeris’s hand.

Not what she might have once considered a garden, but out here in the desert the best she could hope for. A patch at the back of their home – the ruined remains of a house from when Corel was still living. Row after row of cacti, clinging to life in the desolate soil, cared for by Aeris as best she could.

At least Tifa had Aeris. Few enough women wound up exiled here; for Tifa to help her, support her and rapidly fall for her felt inevitable. Something had happened to get her sent here, but unlike Tifa, Aeris was cagey with what she had done. She hailed from Midgar and also harboured no love for Shinra – but anything more she refused to say. Tifa never pushed, content to love her, to have someone to suffer through the hell alone.


End file.
